Have you embraced Snapchat for marketing yet? Employers are fast understanding that to connect with potential employees and woo them into their workplace, being present on social media is a huge leg up and a way to build a loyal following over time. This type of marketing is not about the hard sell either; it’s about getting in front of people in a fun and inclusive way, telling stories to paint the right picture of your company.

Twitter and LinkedIn are fairly straight forward platforms to grasp, but when it comes to Snapchat, many brands are struggling to get their heads around the destructive messaging app which keeps growing and innovating. To understand what the platform can do for your brand, I’ve spoken to Victoria Taylor, have a listen below and be sure to subscribe to the Employer Branding Podcast.

Why should brands be on Snapchat?

I’ll say first of all brands don’t need to be on Snapchat. Brands don’t need to be on any social network. But I think it’s important for brands and businesses to recognise the year that they’re marketing in. And I think now currently with live stream and live video and the user base and the growth of Snapchat that it’s a pretty obvious choice to be on there. So I’m not saying it’s necessary to be on there, because nobody needs to be anywhere, but I think it’s a wise move the way things are moving with the social space right now.

What’s the key to success on Snapchat?

I would say, the top tips to success are showing behind the scenes, showing your personality and showing the in-between moments, because that’s what Snapchat is all about. It’s not a perfectly polished Instagram post that’s filtered. It’s not a perfectly crafted blog post. The beauty of Snapchat is the fact that it is those in between, raw, real moments. So I think for success I would say, be real, be you and make sure you’re showing people the parts that they don’t see on other social networks.

What exactly are stories on Snapchat?

Snapchat and the story element is content that basically self destroys, yeah. So if I was to post a snap now, within 24 hours at this precise moment that snap would disappear and so on and so forth. So the story is the public area. So you record a snap. That would be a photo or it would be a video and you would send it to your story. And that is where people view the story. So it’s the bit that the public can see. If you’re settings is public, everybody can see your story.

Sending regular snaps is just person-to-person?

Yeah, you can do that in the private messaging facility. So you can swipe across and there’s a private messaging facility, which really lends itself nicely to the story as well because it encourages much deeper, meaningful conversations as a result of that story. So you almost take conversations to that space. Once someone’s interacting with your story, you can deepen the conversation and get to know somebody better. So it’s great for relationship building.

How do you get more followers on Snapchat?

With regard to followers in Snapchat you have something called a Snapcode, as I’m sure you’re aware. So we can take that Snapcode, download it and we can upload that to different social platforms. So if you’ve got a really nice Twitter network or a good network on Facebook, you can very easily shell out Snapcode or your Snapchat URL to those different platforms. You can also engage in others.

Lots of people using Snapchat hashtag on Twitter. So look in there to see what conversations are going on around Snapchat. And I think you’ll find as well we’re seeing an increasing number of people using their Snapchat images as their profile pictures under the social networks as well. So that’s a great way to get new followers as well.

And also repurposing your content. Snapchat’s got a beautiful ability where you’re able to download single Snaps or your whole story. And downloading a single Snap is perfect, because you can then upload that to Twitter. So people can see almost a tiny snapshot. And then you can direct them and say, “If you want to join in with the rest of the story, hop on over to Snapchat.”

Images vs. video: What content works best on Snapchat?

I wouldn’t say, there’s a better one. It all depends on the context of the story, on the particular day, at the particular moment. I think what we all seen though is people being very, very creative with the way they do it. There’s some real artists out there on Snapchat as well that are great at drawing onto images and drawing onto videos as well. So I would say that a good combination of the two in the right context, at the right time is absolutely key. So I wouldn’t suggest one over the other really.

What mistakes do you see brands making on Snapchat?

I actually think Snapchat is very different to the other social platforms. There’s a lot of people rising through the ranks, sort of turning themselves into Snapchat gurus, which is absolutely fine. But I think Snapchat is a platform where self made strategy is key, yeah. And I think how one person does something, another person will do it very differently. So I think a mistake that people make is trying to imitate what other people are doing rather than just following what feels natural to them. So I think if you feel natural doing something, then go with what feels natural to you, because there’s no right or wrong.

How can you use Snapchat for talent attraction and recruiting?

I think from a recruitment agency point of view, certainly from a communication point of view, I think there’s a great, great structure there in order to be able to conduct conversations with potential candidates. It could be the recruitment agency might be talking about a particular job position within their snap story. And then deepening those conversations through those matters of audio chat bubbles and video chat bubbles within the private messaging section. So I think it’s from a communicative point of view, it lends itself very, very nicely to that.

What is the return on investment of Snapchat and how do you measure it?

The ROI of Snapchat for everybody is going to be different. It depends on your why and I suppose your own personal goal with Snapchat. I think if you’re looking at the ROI right now, it’s not necessarily to look at it as in a monetary value, but to look at it from a relationship point of view and think, this is a platform where people have real, raw access to you. It’s a platform that provides a lot of access, more access than any other platform out there right now, I believe. So I think that looking at an ROI in terms of money right now is probably not the right approach. But if you look at it and think, “I’m here to build relationships, to get to know people,” then that’s where the real ROI will be, because those relationships form. And as relationships form, trust is established. And with trust comes buying power.

What apps and tools are useful to use with Snapchat?

You’re starting to see now a lot of different apps coming into the market. Particularly on Twitter you’re seeing apps coming in where they’re almost like Snapchat directories. There’s an example of one, 1000 snappers. There’s one that’s recently launched, Ghostcodes, I believe they’re actively on Twitter. So yeah, there’s lots of sort of businesses coming through the ranks where it’s sort of like a directory, where it makes it easier for you to be able to understand different types of snappers. So you can connect with people easier.

What’s next for Snapchat? How will the platform evolve?

Who knows? Who knows where it’s going to go? It’s evolved so much. Even in the last couple of months we’ve just seen Snapchat 2.0 come out. There’s lots of different changes to the way that we’re able to communicate on there. And all I can say right now is it’s an exciting time to see where it is going because within like the last couple of weeks, we now have so many more options to communicate with our community over there within one platform, which is incredible. It combined text, picture, video, audio. It makes conversation very easy. So I think from sort of a relationship strengthening point of view, we’re only going to see that grow through Snapchat and I’m excited to see where they take it.